Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.

rafael ramirez

APS SpA who? Ramirez / Sanso side deals surface

A restructuring proposal to take PDVSA back to its core business was making the rounds recently. Out with importing food, feeding chicken and building cardboard housing, in with amending laws to attract foreign investment and to allow PDVSA to become minority partner, recovering refineries, increase output and decrease taxes and royalties. U.S. sanctions, globe's oil glut, and the Chinavirus must have precipitated the move, which, has to be said, is and has been the only solution.

Jorge Rodriguez v Rafael Ramirez: chavista degenerates bitch fight round 1

What a spectacle, ladies and gentlemen, this promises to be. Right after popular wake to the news of Alejandro Betancourt funding Juan Guaido and using Guaido's father to provide bona fides to Rudy Giuliani, we had Jorge Rodriguez, the most corrupt political operator of chavismo in one corner, and Rafael Ramirez, the most corrupt financial operator of chavismo in the other, meeting in a virtual ring yesterday, to throw punches about Betancourt, Venezuela's most corrupt bolichico.

What Rafael Ramirez does not say...

Rafael Ramirez is a person of interest to this site. For over a decade, Ramirez was, simultaneously, Minister of Energy and Petroleum (MEP) and CEO of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). This can not be denounced enough: the watchdog (Minister) and the executive (CEO) can not reasonably be the same person, for when that happens "$700 billion disappear", as Ramirez admitted to Germany's Deutsche Welle (DW) recently.

Questions to DoJ re Rafael Ramirez's corruption

The rumour mill is in overspin regarding Rafael Ramirez. A prevalent gossip is that he is "collaborating" in the provision of information highly damaging to Nicolas Maduro, which is "being used" by the Trump administration to "advance" its agenda. Another line of gossip has it that ENI, the Italian oil conglomerate, is providing "legal protection" to Ramirez, who spends most of his time nowadays in Italy. Ramirez, Luisa Ortega Diaz and Hugo Carvajal, as per another line, form a triumvirate of "decent" chavistas, folks with whom the U.S.

Antonino Maggiore should look into Rafael Ramirez's tax returns

Not a secret that Al Capone got done for tax evasion. Neither that Italy's Agenzia delle Entrate launched a rather spectacular probe into Dolce & Gabbana international operations due to alleged tax evasion. So what about Rafael Ramirez? Sources repeatedly place Ramirez, wife Beatrice Sanso, and brother in law Baldo Sanso as residents in Italy. Our own investigation found details of Baldo Sanso's ex wife and son living in Rome, as well as tax identification cards related to Ramirez, Beatrice and Baldo.

Rafael Ramirez emerges in fresh corruption probe in Portugal

There's no rest for the wicked Rafael Ramirez. Beyond idiotic presidential aspirations that will never materialise, Ramirez is a hunted man. Add Portugal to U.S., Swiss, Andorra, Spanish and Venezuelan jurisdictions, where he remains a wanted man / person of interest. Many of his closest and most trusted partners-in-crime are in jail in some of those jurisdictions. The impending danger for Ramirez is that his lieutenants have already opened up.